The 2002 FIFA World Cup, the 17th staging of the World Cup, was held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. The two countries were chosen as hosts by FIFA in May 1996 and was the first tournament in its history to be hosted by two countries. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0 in the final. Turkey had beaten South Korea 2-3 in the third place match.

Qualification

A total of 199 teams attempted to qualify for the 2002 World Cup which qualification process began with the preliminary draw in 1999. Defending World ChampionsFrance and co-hosts Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Japan automatically qualified and did not have to play any qualification matches. (This was the last time that the defending champions automatically qualified).

Thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), five by CAF teams (Africa), four by CONMEBOL teams (South America), four by AFC teams (Asia), and three by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and UEFA and between CONMEBOL and OFC (Oceania). Four nations qualified for the finals for the first time: China, Ecuador, Senegal, and Slovenia.

Seeds

The eight seeded teams for the 2002 tournament were announced on 28 November 2001. The seeds comprised Pot A in the draw. Pot B contained the remaining 11 European sides; Pot C contained five unseeded qualifiers from CONMEBOL and AFC. Pot D contained unseeded sides from the CONCACAF region and Africa.[1]

On 1 December 2001, the draw was held and the group assignments and order of fixtures were determined. Group F was considered the group of death, as it brought together Argentina, England, Nigeria and Sweden.

Summary

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First round

The World Cup started with a shock 1-0 defeat of defending champions France, playing without the injured Zinedine Zidane, by tournament newcomers Senegal in the tournament's opening match held in Seoul, Korea. In their second Group A game, France were held to a goalless draw by Uruguay after star striker Thierry Henry was sent off. A 2-0 defeat by Denmark in their last group game sealed France's fate. The world champions went out of the Cup without even managing to score a goal and earned the unwanted record of the worst World Cup performance by a defending champion. An impressive Denmark won the group, joined by Senegal to move on to the next round. Senegal drew with Denmark and Uruguay to clinch its place in the second round. Despite coming back from 0-3 to draw with Senegal in their last group game, the South Americans couldn't find the fourth goal that would have kept them in the Cup and thus were out of the tournament.

Spain in Group B became one of only two teams to pick up maximum points, seeing off both Paraguay and Slovenia 3-1 before beating South Africa 3-2. Paraguay needed a late goal against another newcomer, Slovenia, to tie with South Africa on goal difference (they were already tied on points) and move to the second round on the next tiebreaker, goals scored.

The other team to win all their group games was Brazil in Group C. Turkey advanced to the next round, too, beating Costa Rica on goal difference. China, coached by Bora Milutinović (the fifth national team he coached in five consecutive World Cups), failed to get a point or even score a goal.

Group D saw several surprises as the United States beat Portugal, who many had tipped to win the tournament, 3-2. Then, goalkeeping by Brad Friedel earned the Americans a 1-1 draw with South Korea. South Korea, which previously beat Poland 2-0, beat Portugal in the deciding third match to send the Europeans home and also give the United States a ticket into the second round, despite losing to Poland in the 3rd match.

Other than France's failures, the biggest shock of the tournament came in the Group of Death, Group F as pre-tournament favorites Argentina failed to move out of the group. A loss to England 1-0 on a David Beckham penalty and a subsequent draw with Sweden kept the South Americans from advancing. The Scandinavians won the group, with England also going through. Nigeria finished last.

In Group G, Italy, Croatia, and Ecuador all beat each other once. But the Italians' draw against group winners Mexico, while the other two lost to the Central Americans, gave the three-time World Cup champions second place in the group. Ecuador could still enjoy a victory on their first World Cup, beating Croatia 1-0.

Co-hosts Japan breezed through Group H, joined by Belgium. Russia and Tunisia were two of the disappointments of the tournament, in what was considered the weakest group of the tournament.

A map showing the locations of the venues used at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Second round and quarter-finals

In the second round, Germany beat Paraguay 1-0 on a late goal by Oliver Neuville in a tense, defence-dominated encounter while England thrashed previously-impressive Denmark 3-0. In the Spain-Ireland match, the two teams drew 1-1 and penalties gave Spain a place in the quarter-finals. Sweden and Senegal had a 1-1 match and it took a Golden goal from Henri Camara in extra time to settle the game. The United States overcame Mexico 2-0 thanks to the goals of Brian McBride and Landon Donovan. Brazil defeated a surprising Belgium 2-0, while Turkey ended co-hosts Japan's run with a 1-0 win. The other co-hosts, South Korea, beat Italy 2-1 in sudden-death extra time. South Korea's win ensured that, for the very first time in the Cup's history, teams from each of Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia reached the quarter-finals of the same tournament.

In the quarter-finals, Ronaldinho's free kick sailed over the stunned David Seaman as Brazil beat England 2-1. The United States lost to Germany 1-0 by a Michael Ballack goal. They demanded the referee give a penalty for a goal-line hand ball by Torsten Frings, but to no avail. South Korea got another win, beating Spain on penalties after a 0-0 draw in which the Spaniards twice thought they had scored, however the efforts were disallowed by the referee. The hosts became the first Asian team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, eclipsing the record of their North Korean counterparts when they reached the quarter-finals in 1966. Turkey continued their remarkable run, stopping Senegal's own with a 1-0 golden goal victory.

Semi-finals, third-place match, and final

The semi-finals saw two 1-0 games; first, Ballack's goal was enough for Germany to defeat South Korea. However, Ballack received a yellow card during the match, which forced him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. Ronaldo scored his sixth of the competition for Brazil, who beat Turkey 1-0 in a replay of their Group C encounter. In the third-place match, Turkey beat the South Koreans 3-2 in a very spirited match for third place, their first goal coming from Hakan Şükür straight from the opening kick-off (even though South Korea kicked off) in 10.8 seconds, the fastest ever goal in World Cup history.

In the final match held in Yokohama, Japan, two goals from Ronaldo secured the World Cup for Brazil as they claimed victory over Germany. Ronaldo scored twice in the second half and, after the game, won the Golden Boot award for the tournament's leading scorer with eight goals. This was the fifth time Brazil had won the World Cup, cementing their status as the most successful national team in the history of the competition. Brazil's captain Cafu, who became the first player to appear in three successive World Cup finals, accepted the trophy on behalf of the team.

Ticket sales problem

The original domestic ticket allocation had fully sold out and the organising committee completed sales of ticket returned from the international allocation by the end of April. However, it was obvious at the opening two matches in Japan that there was a significant number of empty seats,[2] and it gradually revealed that the WCTB, World Cup Ticketing Bureau, still had unsold tickets in its possession. After FIFA agreed to sell this inventory, JAWOC undertook sales over telephone and WCTB handled the internet sales.[3] For the second round Japan vs. Turkey match in Miyagi in particular, although it was reported by both parties that all tickets had been sold, some 700 seats remained empty.

Venues

South Korea and Japan each provided ten stadia, the vast majority of them newly built for the tournament.

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2002 FIFA World Cup squads. This was the first World Cup that featured squads of 23 players, an increase from 22 previously. Of the 23 players, 3 must be goalkeepers.

Group B

Spain won all three games to progress to the Round of 16, while Slovenia were eliminated with no points. Nelson Cuevas' second goal against Slovenia was enough to send Paraguay through by virtue of having scored more goals than South Africa.

Group C

Brazil won all three games to progress, whilst China PR were eliminated without a goal or a point. Costa Rica's leaky defence led to them being eliminated on goal difference, allowing Turkey to claim the runner-up spot.

Group D

The USA's shock 3-2 win over Portugal, together with a draw against South Korea was enough to send them through. Portugal were eliminated with one win and two losses, including one against South Korea. Poland were also eliminated, despite beating the USA in their final game.

Group E

Saudi Arabia was eliminated as the worst team in tournament, after three defeats and no goals scored, including an 8-0 loss to Germany. Germany qualified, knocking out Cameroon in the process. Robbie Keane was one of only two players to score against Germany in the whole World Cup (the other being Ronaldo of Brazil in the final), scoring in additional time to help claim second place in the group.

Group F

Like favourites France, second favourites Argentina were eliminated following a 1-1 draw to Sweden in their third game. They needed a victory following their second game loss to England to secure a second round berth. Sweden topped the group, having scored more goals than England, while Nigeria had already been eliminated before drawing with England in their final match.

Group G

Mexico qualified after two wins in their first two games. Italy also progressed due to Alessandro Del Piero's equaliser against the Mexicans in the group's final match. This left Croatia and World Cup debutants Ecuador, who picked up their maiden World Cup win against the Croats, as the two teams that did not advance.

Group H

Hosts Japan topped the group with two wins and a draw; Junichi Inamoto of Arsenal scored the goal which effectively eliminated Russia in the teams' second game. Belgium also qualified after a see-saw match with the Russians, while Tunisia was also eliminated after picking up just one point.

Knockout stage

For the Second Round, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals, the survivors from Groups A, B, C, and H played their games in Japan while the Survivors of Groups D, E, F, and G played their games in South Korea. Daegu South Korea hosted the Third place match while Yokohama, Japan hosted the Final.

Semi-finals

Brazil defeated Turkey, thanks to a single goal from the tournament's top scorer, Ronaldo, and despite picking up a booking that would rule him out of the final, Michael Ballack scored the goal that sent Germany to the final and consigned South Korea to the third place play-off.

Third place match

Turkey won third place after an entertaining 3-2 victory over hosts South Korea, in a match that included the fastest ever World Cup goal, scored by Parma striker and Turkey veteran Hakan Şükür after just 11 seconds.

Final

Two goals from Ronaldo in the final were enough to see Brazil crowned world champions for the fifth time and Germany made runners-up for the fourth time. The first goal occurred when Germany goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, failed to deal with a long-range shot from Rivaldo, spilling the ball directly into Ronaldo's path. The two worked together again on the second goal when Rivaldo stepped over a square ball from Kléberson, allowing Ronaldo to side-foot it home from the edge of the box.